A very good morning to all. It is my pleasure to be here today and I would like to thank Mr. Chan, Managing Director of Infinity & Transport for inviting me to officiate the opening of Infinity House (Penang) and to also officiate the Dragon Heads and usher in the Chinese New Year.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Infinity is one of the main players that has brought transshipment cargos from South Thai to Penang and thus helping to create Penang Port as a transshipment hub. Their Penang office total investment is RM 2.8 million, including building cost, renovation, cost IT infrastructure and signage. As of today, they have 70 workers.

I wish to congratulate Infinity for the initiatives and efforts the company has contributed towards the logistics industry in Penang.

Penang is a state that needs an efficient supply chain in order to assist the import and export activities in Penang. With this, I would like to challenge Infinity to do more; to play a vital role in championing the local logistics industry to cater for the needs of Penang; and go beyond just having transshipment cargos from South Thai that is to reach out to the Andaman Sea region to Penang Port.

Ladies & Gentleman,

Despite year 2015 being a difficult year in terms of economic & political situation of the country, we congratulate Infinity for achieving an 11% growth in your revenue.

As we face 2016, I hope Infinity will achieve either equal or a better results than 2015, and one day, we can all be here to witness Infinity setting up a logistics centre in Penang to promote Penang as a service & logistics centre.

Ladies & Gentleman,

Penang is a service oriented state and we acknowledge that Logistics service is one of the vital industry for our state. Penang Port’s relationship with containers started back in 1974 when the first container was discharged at Butterworth Wharves. From a humble annual throughput of 2,994 TEUs then, Penang Port has grown steadily to achieve a throughput of more than 1.3 million TEUs in 2015.

In 2013, Penang Port handled nearly 1.26 million tons of break-bulk cargo. The major break-bulk commodities handled are iron and steel packages, wood moldings, rice, iron and steel billets, machineries and components as well as asbestos products. These commodities either originated or were destined to and from the entire hinterland of Penang Port that stretches from the South of Thailand to northern Perak.

We heard the need for Penang Port to achieve a Free Commercial Zone status. Can the Penang Port Commission (PPC) and Penang Port make this happen?

Apart from this, the State Government recognizes the importance of capital dredging and port extension works. Existing harbours are deepened or enlarged to be able to receive more and larger container vessels. Therefore, Federal Government should not neglect the needs of Penang Port by instructing that dredging works at the sea near the port valued at RM353 million to start immediately to make Penang Port relevant to be called by these bigger vessels. We have waited for nearly 10 years for dredging works.

It is my honor to declare Infinity House (Penang) to be officially open. Thank You.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome His Excellency Tun Dato’ Seri Utama Abdul Rahman bin Abbas, Governor of the State of Penang to grace this Gala reception of the 2nd World Curry Festival. This auspicious occasion is part of the 7th installation of the Penang International Halal Expo & Conference (PIHEC) 2016.

On behalf of the Penang State Government, I feel deeply honoured to warmly welcome all our special guests and dignitaries present here this evening.

The World Curry Festival, established last year in commemoration of the 6th PIHEC, featured a fusion of East- meets-West, of Bradford United Kingdom and Penang Malaysia, bringing together friendship, cultures and culinary artistry.

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Today, Penang has the reputation of being the region’s food paradise, offering diversed and exotic mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisine, reflecting the multi-cultural setting of the State. The State is also recognized as having the Best Street Food in Asia by Time Magazine in 2004 and among the top-ten street food destination by CNN in 2013. The World Curry Festival has been gazetted as among the prominent festivals in Tourism Malaysia’s Calendar of Events in 2015.

This time around, the 2nd World Curry Festival Penang Chapter will showcase internationally renowned chefs from the UK and Pakistan. This year’s Penang chapter will witness new features in Cooking School & Chef Table, indicating that the event has succeeded in generating a bigger platform for participants, industry players as well as audience.

This 2nd World Curry Festival Penang Chapter in conjunction with the 7th Penang International Halal Expo & Conference is a continuous effort towards achieving mutual excellence between the related industry sectors in both Penang and the UK.

Let us thank the Governer of Penang and his consort for gracing us with their distinguished presence.

OSRAM AND PDC EXCHANGE OF DOCUMENTS CEREMONYSPEECH BY THE CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG28TH JANUARY 2016

1. Good afternoon, everyone. I am pleased to be here today for the official exchange of documents ceremony between OSRAM and PDC. The Penang state government has approved for PDC to build and lease a RM 15.5 million additional 3-storey flatted factory building to OSRAM. The additional building will take up 54,252 square feet of build up area.

2. The OSRAM site in Penang has been present in Penang since 1972 and throughout that time has manufactured optoelectronics devices for a wide variety of applications continuously for 43 years.

3. The new facility will house OSRAM’s office and laboratory that focuses on Innovation, Design and Realization of lighting technologies, placing Malaysia team at the forefront of creativity in this field. This expansion is seen not only as another important new milestone achieved by OSRAM, it is also a strategic investment for the Penang state. The expansion will focus on high-skilled business and technology roles which in turn creates a high value employment for Penang talents

4. This investment is expected a total headcount in Solid State Lighting and R&D to increase from 350 today to 600-700 in 2020. Penang will also benefit from OSRAM’s expanding local supplier base through the introduction of new manufacturing technologies.

5. Penang recorded RM 8.2 billion in investments in 2014, a 110% increase compared to RM 3.9 billion in 2013. For the 7 years period between 2008-2014, Penang recorded an investment of RM 48.2 billion, a 93% increase compared to the previous 7 years period 2001 to 2007 of RM 24.9 billion.

6. The State Government is highly supportive of this expansion plan, as evidenced from the growth of OSRAM Penang as a high-technology facility. We look forward to benefit from the creation of skilled-employment as well as to spur the growth of local supply chain.

7. The State Government thru our principal investment agency, investPenang and PDC, has proactively worked together with OSRAM to facilitate the expansion plan.

8. OSRAM has chosen Penang to expand its operations over a variety of reasons, among which is the availability of highly-skilled talent and the world class supply chain. As a robust industrial state, Penang also offers competitive cost of doing business, wide range of incentives and strong intellectual property protection.

9. With all the state government proactive efforts to prosper Penang’s investment ground, we hope that OSRAM will continue to grow successfully in the coming years, and remain a valuable investment to Penang as well as to the country.